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Backgrounder

The General Assembly of the United Nations
opens its sixty-third session on 16 September
at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The annual general debate, which traditionally
features statements by dozens of Heads of State
and Government as well as Ministers, will begin
on Tuesday, 23 September 2008, and conclude
on 1 October 2008.

The
debate will be held under an overarching theme, “The impact of the global food crisis on poverty and
hunger in the world as well as the need to democratize
the United Nations”, proposed by the
President of the sixty-third session.

Democratization of the United Nations,
including evaluations of the work of the Security
Council and of the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as revitalization of the General Assembly;

Financing for development to end hunger, poverty and lack of access to clean water and basic health services;

Climate change in a divided but ecologically
interdependent world;

Achieving the goals of the United Nations
Decade: “Water for Life” (2005-2015);

Implementation of the Counter-Terrorism Strategy, with full respect for human rights;

Human security as a part of international peace and security, including disarmament and nuclear control.

The Assembly will examine the above-mentioned
priorities also from a gender perspective and will continue to consider issues relating to system-wide coherence, sustainable development and HIV/AIDS.

Follow-up to the
2005 World Summit

Pursuant to the Millennium Declaration and the
groundbreaking 2005 World Summit Outcome
Document, the Assembly, to date, has established
two new subsidiary bodies: a Peacebuilding
Commission and a Human Rights Council. It
has also adopted a Counter-Terrorism Strategy
as well as a number of measures to strengthen
the Economic and Social Council and reform
the Secretariat. Some remaining issues—such
as implementation of the Counter-Terrorism
Strategy, further efforts at system-wide coherence
and an institutional framework for environmental
activities, as well as management and Secretariat
reform—are expected to continue to be considered
during the sixty-third session.

Revitalization of the work
of the General Assembly

Over the past years, there has been a sustained
effort to make the work of the General Assembly
more focused and relevant. This became a major
priority as of the fifty-eighth session, and efforts
continued at subsequent sessions of the General
Assembly to streamline the agenda, improve
the practices and working methods of the Main
Committees, enhance the role of the General
Committee, strengthen the role and authority of
the President and examine the Assembly’s role in
the process to select the Secretary-General.

At its sixtieth session, the Assembly adopted
a text, annexed to resolution 60/286 of 8 September
2006, which, among other things, encouraged
the holding of informal interactive debates on
current issues of critical importance to the international
community. The text, which had been
recommended by the Ad Hoc Working Group on
the Revitalization of the General Assembly, also
invited the President of the General Assembly
to propose themes for these interactive debates.

During the sixty-second session, five informal
thematic interactive debates were convened on:

As of the sixty-second session, it has become an
established practice for the Secretary-General
to brief Member States periodically, in informal
meetings of the General Assembly, on his recent
activities and travels. These briefings have provided
a well-received opportunity for exchange between
the Secretary-General and Member States and are
likely to be continued at the sixty-third session.

Elections for the President
and Vice-Presidents of the
General Assembly and
Chairs of Main Committees

As a result of the ongoing revitalization of its
work, and pursuant to rule 30 of its rules of
procedure, the General Assembly now elects
its President, Vice-Presidents and Chairs of
the Main Committees at least three months in
advance of the start of the new session in order
to further strengthen coordination and preparation
of work among the Main Committees and
between the Committees and the plenary.

General Committee

The General Committee makes recommendations to the Assembly about
adoption of the agenda, allocation of agenda items
and organization of its work.

Credentials Committee

The Credentials Committee, appointed by the
General Assembly at each session, reports to the
Assembly on the credentials of representatives.

General debate

The practice of
selecting a specific issue of global concern for the session
goes back to 2003, when the General Assembly
decided to introduce this innovation in an effort to
enhance the authority and role of the body (resolution
58/126 of December 2003).

Rather than its
usual period of nine working days (as called for in
resolution 57/301 of March 2003), this year’s general
debate will last six working days to allow for the
convening of two days of high-level plenary meetings
devoted to the midterm review of the Almaty
Programme of Action (2-3 October 2008).

The Secretary-General will
present his report on the work of the Organization
immediately prior to the general debate, a practice
that began with the fifty-second session.

Six Main Committees

With the close of the general debate, the Assembly
begins consideration of the substantive items on
its agenda. Because of the great number of questions
it is called upon to consider (over 160 agenda
items at the sixty-second session, for example), the
Assembly allocates to its six Main Committees
items relevant to their work.

Working groups of
the General Assembly

The General Assembly has, in the past, authorized
the establishment of working groups to
focus on matters of importance in more detail
and make recommendations to the Assembly for
action.

A working group on the question of equitable
representation on and increase in the membership
of the Security Council, established by Assembly resolution 48/26 of 3 December 1993,
remained active during the sixty-second session. This working group is expected to continue its
work during the sixty-third session.

Regional groups

Over the years, various informal regional groupings
have evolved in the General Assembly as
vehicles for consultation and to facilitate procedural
work. The groups are:

African States;

Asian States;

Eastern European States;

Latin American and Caribbean States; and

Western European and other States.

The post of
President of the General Assembly rotates among
the regional groups. For the sixty-third session,
the President has been elected from the Group of
Latin American and Caribbean States.

Special sessions and
emergency special sessions

In addition to its regular sessions, the Assembly
may meet in special and emergency sessions.

Carrying on the
work of the Assembly

The work of the United Nations derives largely
from the decisions of the General Assembly and
is carried out:

By committees and other bodies established
by the Assembly to study and report on
specific issues, such as disarmament, outer space, peacekeeping, economic development, the environment and human rights;

By the Secretariat of the United Nations—the Secretary-General and his staff of international civil servants.

Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information - DPI/2516A